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HuskerZJ
12-06-2006, 08:00 PM
I want to do my own headlamp upgrade with better bulbs and beefed-up wiring, so a few questions.
Factory wiring is 16 ga, what should I replace it with?
What relay should I use?
What bulb? Silverstars are supposed to be nice but the KOR kit says it comes with PIAA's.
What amperage fuses do I need?
Has anyone done this before?

Any other insights would be much appreciated

Skyline
12-06-2006, 09:25 PM
If you're looking at the KOR headlamp kit, it seems that it uses a completely different headlamp, that accepts H4 bulbs. It's also made of glass instead of plastic. Seems to me you might melt more than the wires if you tried to use 80/100w bulbs in the stock plastic headlamps, but I havn't tried it.

I can tell you though, I had 80/100 H4's in my XJ with no upgrades to the harness, and I melted the headlight switch.

Sounds to me like the KOR package is a really a good way to go, it seems to have all the right bits, and is not all that expensive given what you're getting. Price a single stock headlamp and then think about Kevin's price. I definately plan on this upgrade at some point soon. I'm getting tired of going from my DD with Zenon lights plus H4's to the crap lights in the ZJ.

HuskerZJ
12-06-2006, 09:54 PM
I was gonna price the e-code light housing tomorrow. I'd be surprised if you'd melt the housings, but I dont know. As far as melting switches, my plan was to wire the headlights directly to the battery (w/ a fuse of course) and use a relay to connect to the switch. Stock ZJ lights don't do that (unless I'm reading the wiring diagram incorrectly.) Basically I'm going to try to make something similar to the KOR kit, but hopefully cheaper.

Skyline
12-06-2006, 11:29 PM
I was gonna price the e-code light housing tomorrow.

Is that the glass headlight with an h4 glass pattern and bulb socket? Where are you going to get that?

As for the wiring, I would go with 10 or 12ga. for the connections to the batteries and relays.

As far as the relays, just add up the amperage. At 12 volts, for a pair of 100w high beams, that's 16.67 amps. For the pair of 80w lows, that's 13.34 amps. I presume you'll need a seperate relay for the pair of high beams and another for the low beams. I don't think for this kind of amperage you're going to need something too special.

Jim311
12-06-2006, 11:45 PM
If I could find the glass headlight housings I'd definitely build a set of my own. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find them, otherwise upgrading the wiring would be easy.

HuskerZJ
12-07-2006, 12:16 AM
Yea I wonder where Kevin gets em? Oh well. I think the main reason for those is because they won't turn yellow like our plastic ones tend to do. I don't think the plastic ones will melt though.

HuskerZJ
12-07-2006, 12:19 AM
I was gonna check the dealership for them but after an ebay search it seems that finding the glass housing lights (e-code) may be a little more difficult than I thought

Cue-Ball
12-07-2006, 01:06 AM
You can get the espec housings from Rigid Steel.

Then get the Painless wiring harnes from Summit Racing and then the H4 bulbs of choice.

All things considered though it is much easier to just get the KIT from Kevin, way less headache than piecing it together on your own.

Dirk

HuskerZJ
12-07-2006, 01:12 AM
I'll price everything and then make my decision.

Jim311
12-07-2006, 09:10 AM
I'll price everything and then make my decision.

Let me know what you find out! My ZJ's headlights suck big time.

HuskerZJ
12-07-2006, 10:02 AM
So far I'm leaning towards getting the Kevin's kit
e-code housings: $129.95 x2 = $259.90 (Rigid Steel)
PIAA H4 Star white bulbs: $60.45 (PIAA website)
Painless wiring harness: $120.95 (YogisInc.com)
TOTAL (no shipping) = $441.30
Kevin's kit: $349.97

On the other hand, I could make my own harness for next to nothing, and that alone would make mine cheaper. One of the auto parts stores in town is having a sale on silverstars right now, and maybe i could find the housings cheaper. I'll post up with what else I can find

CurtP
12-07-2006, 10:36 AM
US spec Silverstars = junk.
PIAA anything (especially bulbs) = seriously overpriced junk.
EU spec Silverstars = good.

Do some reading up on www.danielsternlighting.com - I've been consulting and buying lighting from him for years. He's to the point and gives straight answers. He does NOT carry the ZJ Rigid Steel E-code lamp housings though.

The Silverstars that Stern carries are EU spec. I have the E-code housings in both of my ZJ's. The '96 has 60/55W Narva Rangepower High Efficacy Plus 30 bulbs; the '98 has 70/65W Osram bulbs and I'm happy with both of them.

Stern also carries some very good relays and relay sockets. I used his relays in my nitrous setup on my Formula. He carries everything you need to make a harness except wire (good wire is available from Napa). His Hella HD H4 sockets are really nice too.

One thing that won't come with any the ZJ E-code housings or kits is the H4 bulb dust boots. Stern carries those as well.

Cue-Ball
12-07-2006, 10:54 AM
Good call Curt, I have read through his site many times over the years.

ILikeMud
12-07-2006, 11:19 AM
Yea, our silverstars blow. I noticed no difference between them and stock bulbs.

Kevin's kit is cheaper then piecing together your own kit. Plus he makes it dead easy.

DJJordache
12-07-2006, 12:32 PM
<hijack on>potential rice alert! do yall remember a while back a red ZJ that was very modified for the street that had modified BMW E36 housings in his ZJ. back in the day I was thinking about going crazy and making my own housings with Hella or Audi HID projectors, but never got around to it. I have some pics somewhere
</hi JACKOFF:D>

I have a CarShow 9004 harness I got from Kolak and it's working great. I tried the us silverstars and there was a small improvment over stock but they burned out too fast for paying $40 for them... now I have some super ultra white(not blue) APC ones (rice I know) but they are CHEAP and the light output is almost like the US silverstars

Cue-Ball
12-07-2006, 12:53 PM
So far I'm leaning towards getting the Kevin's kit
e-code housings: $129.95 x2 = $259.90 (Rigid Steel)
PIAA H4 Star white bulbs: $60.45 (PIAA website)
Painless wiring harness: $120.95 (YogisInc.com)
TOTAL (no shipping) = $441.30
Kevin's kit: $349.97

On the other hand, I could make my own harness for next to nothing, and that alone would make mine cheaper. One of the auto parts stores in town is having a sale on silverstars right now, and maybe i could find the housings cheaper. I'll post up with what else I can find

Check Summit for the harness only $95.
http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=PRF%2D30815&N=700+115&autoview=sku

Jim311
12-07-2006, 01:29 PM
Why does a wiring harness cost like 100 bucks? It consists of a relay and some wiring? Or is there something I'm missing here?

ILikeMud
12-07-2006, 01:41 PM
Cause it's the Painless brand, that's why.

Jim311
12-07-2006, 02:54 PM
Not so Painless for your bank account though.

Cue-Ball
12-07-2006, 02:55 PM
I am all for building things yourself, but sometimes it is just more hassle than it is worth.

Jim311
12-07-2006, 03:00 PM
I am all for building things yourself, but sometimes it is just more hassle than it is worth.

What all is involved with building the harness, though? You can get a relay CHEAP, wire cheap.. so all you'd need would be the connectors for the H4 style bulbs, correct? I haven't seen the harness personally, so you could be right, it just seems like a pretty simple product that could be reproduced easily.

ILikeMud
12-07-2006, 03:22 PM
It can be easily done if you know what your doing and have the time.

So people however don't know how to do it, don't have the time to do it, or they are too lazy to do it.

CurtP
12-07-2006, 06:03 PM
And you really don't want to run cheap relays and wire - not on something like this. You won't be very happy trying to troubleshoot your headlights in the dark or trying to figure out why all the insulation has burned off the wires.

Painless usually uses decent wire, but cheap sockets and connectors and questionable relays. I'd say build it yourself using good parts, silver solder and environmental heat-shrink, but it is time consuming and costs more.

What I've personally done is used the stock wiring harness. The E-code headlights put more usable light on the road. I use stock or near-stock wattage bulbs too. It's a big improvement over the stock setup and I don't care enough to wire up an entire harness.

Skyline
12-07-2006, 07:16 PM
I don't know if the KOR kit includes it or not, but normally, H4 replacement bulbs come with a rubber boot. CurtP mentioned the dust boots, and I guess that was what he was talking about, but I think these are more to keep moisture out than dust.

The boots on the H4 replacement lights I've used for a long time now, (I had them on my first car 30 years ago!) stretched over a 4" diameter ledge on the back side of the housing, and had a hole just big enough for the back end on the bulb, effectively sealing moisture out.

For people like us who have a tendency to get alot of water splashed around in our engine compartments, (if not completely submerging the headlights!) this rubber boot seems like a really critical thing. The inside of an H4 lens is VERY prone to rust; that's one of the whole reasons these lights are illegal in the US. Light output dimishes dramatically when the metal film on the inside of the glass housing starts to rust...and it was figured that the average American motorist was too stupid to realize that he needed new headlamps if this were to happen; so DOT just banned them to be safe.

CurtP
12-08-2006, 12:53 PM
I don't know if the KOR kit includes it or not, but normally, H4 replacement bulbs come with a rubber boot. CurtP mentioned the dust boots, and I guess that was what he was talking about, but I think these are more to keep moisture out than dust.

Same thing I was talking about. The KOR kit does NOT include the boots and not all boots will fit. The E-code housings for the ZJ have a rather large diameter bulb mount plate and the small boots will not fit. The larger Hella boots fit, but just barely. I tried to use a pair of Cibie boots and they just didn't work.

Those boots are called a number of things and they are there to keep out moisture and debris. The better boots will have a channel on the bottom to allow any moisture being boiled out of the housing to escape - but that isn't a concern on the Rigid Steel housings since there's two vents on the housing itself.

The better lenses shouldn't have a problem with corrosion and I can't see that being a reason of why they're not used in the US. Some new cars in the US still use metal housings and they are DOT compliant. These lenses aren't used because of the pattern they produce which have a steep cutoff on the right side and a broader pattern on the left. These lenses are meant to be used where they drive on the left side of the road. Be aware that using these lenses, especially with overwattage and/or blue-tinted bulbs (blue ion, for example), they will create glare for oncoming traffic. Since these lenses don't produce light tunnels (distinct lines of light on the road directly in front of the vehicle), I aim mine towards the right to try to minimize the glare.

However, if I want to be a dick, I can still pull over to the left and plant my driver's side headlight in the side mirror of the car in front of me and blind the fuck out of the driver :flipoff2:

CurtP
12-08-2006, 12:58 PM
Oh, and I amost forgot - there is NO SUCH THING as "DOT approved". DOT does not approve anything - they set guidelines that must be met to be compliant.

Any lens or lamp that claims to be "DOT approved" is full of shit. Same thing for other products that make such claims (braided stainless steel brake lines come immediately to mind).

HuskerZJ
12-08-2006, 08:17 PM
Wow, lots of good info here. I'm so glad I came over from JF.

Cue-Ball
12-08-2006, 08:18 PM
Oh, and I amost forgot - there is NO SUCH THING as "DOT approved". DOT does not approve anything - they set guidelines that must be met to be compliant.

Any lens or lamp that claims to be "DOT approved" is full of shit. Same thing for other products that make such claims (braided stainless steel brake lines come immediately to mind).

And don't forget the whole debate over DOT Approved beadlocks!!!!